Breaking These Chains
by Mel-Girl
Summary: Malik has been subject to a curse given to him by the king for six years and counting. Bakura dislikes the way things are and wants to overthrow the king. What brings these two together? A kiss. Now Malik's curse begins to take effect... HIATUS.
1. malik

**Oh lol, I have another new fic. I can't seem to get away from making all these new fics. I'll put a stop and just work on the three I've got going at the moment. Amused at how they're all Thiefshipping one way or another, haha. Can't help it when I have a pairing addiction. And they're always AUs, lol.**

**Summary: Malik had been placed under a curse when he was young. When he has to escort Shizuka to get her eyes treated in the main city where the man who placed the curse on him resides, he feels like the curse may come back to haunt him again. Meanwhile Bakura, the son of one of the lords plans to overthrow the king. When Bakura and Malik's paths cross, Malik finds himself stuck in a plot to take over the kingdom and defeat the king, who is also the man who cursed him...**

**Some notes about the fic: The yami/hikari duo are twins here. So Yami and Yugi, Bakura and Ryou, Malik and Mariku are all twins. It's just easier this way, haha. XD This is an AU setting with a rather medieval thing with a monarchy, lords, kingdoms, etc. And there's special powers, woo! The main kingdom in this fic is the Kaiba kingdom, haha. Some of the ages were altered for this, so Yami and Yugi are eighteen, Malik and Mariku are seventeen, Bakura and Ryou are seventeen and Seto's nineteen, etc.**

**Pairings: Thiefshipping, Prideshipping, Heartshipping.**

**First off, the prologue! There's sort of two prologues. To establish the two sides. One is Malik's background, which should hopefully set him up well for chapter one. And the other one is to set up the stuff with Seto, Ryou and Bakura. Woot.**

**Let's get started, shall we?**

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

prologue.

**malik.**

The feeling you get when you've been condemned to a form of finality or permanency, that is a curse. When you realise that it cannot be undone no matter what you do, that is a curse. If it is the reason behind all your misfortune and misery, that is a curse.

Have you ever been subject to a curse?

Curses come in many different forms. Whether they be truly cruel and heartless or odd yet makes mockery of your innermost fears, the possibilities are endless. They always find the weakness in people's hearts and break them to the very core. How one can live with such a daunting power looming in their mind, body and soul, I don't know. I truly don't know.

I am Malik. That's all I know. Not to mention I have experienced bad luck my entire life. From the beginning, even until now. The very essence of me is bound; it was the fate I was born with, the predetermined wounding of my heart. For I have trapped myself into a permanent condemnation, thanks to my own foolishness.

Because I have been cursed by Your Majesty, King Seto of Kaiba.

-

When I was young, both my parents passed away and so I had been placed in an orphanage along with my twin brother Mariku and my older sister Ishizu. Actually, if I wanted to be more accurate, I would've said that my mother passed away throughout the stages of childbirth. My father hasn't passed away as far as I'm aware of but however, he wasn't interested in taking care of three children so he dumped us at the Domino Orphanage when Mariku and I were five years of age and Ishizu had just turned eight.

I was amazed at how quickly Ishizu got adopted but well, I knew why. We live in a world where some of us are born gifted, as in they have special powers and abilities. Ishizu was one of them. Gifted children tend to get adopted quickly – talents are greatly cherished after all. Mariku got adopted not long after too – he's got an ability too. I don't know Ishizu's but Mariku's is powerful. He can control people's minds.

Nobody wanted me. It's understandable, I guess. After all, I don't have any powers. I was hoping that because I'm Mariku's twin that someone would adopt the two of us as a pair. That wasn't the way things worked out.

So I came to the conclusion that I would never be wanted or loved by anybody. It was something I accepted as my permanence. My finality.

Mariku and Ishizu can go on to live happy lives for all I care. Just forget about me.

It's okay if they forgot about me.

-

I was rather lonely at the orphanage. All the other kids got adopted over the years, confirming what I've always known to be the truth. Not a very shocking revelation for me but I think the staff, the orphanage caretakers saw it as one. They wanted me to show more charm and likeability when potential adopters came around. I couldn't however. That's just not me.

So I was a bit of a veteran to the other kids in terms of how I'd stayed a really long time and have the experience. It was when I turned eleven that Seto and his younger brother Mokuba turned up. The other kids bullied Mokuba for a while but when Seto stood up for him, that somehow turned him into the leader of the pack – the orphanage's coolest kid. Nobody dared go against him.

Seto was an interesting guy, I'll admit. Now he was someone who was truly gifted. He was more than happy to let everyone know that he had the power to place unbreakable curses upon people. That was why not a single person dared challenge him.

I was a fool however. Well, I thought at the time 'I bet he's just saying he has those powers just to frighten the others.' Also I knew Seto would get adopted soon so I didn't care if I had a temporary enemy.

Thus I did the dumb thing and challenged him.

-

"Hey Seto!" I called, running towards him from across the playing field. He looked up, surrounded by his usual gang of jerks. Seto never seemed to care that they were there but he obviously didn't mind how blatantly they sucked up to him. "There's something I've been wondering..."

One of the other kids – Eita - stood before me, blocking the pathway between Seto and I. "Oi! What gives a freak like you the right to talk to him?" I rolled my eyes and tried to barge on past but the kid who bigger than me so he was able to hold me back. "Answer me!"

Seto let out a sigh. "Let him ask his question."

"But!"

"Unless you want to be the first at this orphanage to get a taste of my power?" Seto raised his eyebrows at the kid, who backed off from me immediately. Ugh.

I glared. "That's what I want to know! About your curses! You always say you have that power but where's your proof?!" I asked in a challenging tone. Almost all the nearby orphans let out a gasp. Seto smirked.

"Proof? Do you want proof? It's a bit unwise to ask for proof, don't you think? Why, I'd need a test subject in order to do that!" he replied, unfazed by my words. I'm certain he has some kind of power but claiming to be able to lay curses upon others is just ridiculous. Way too much exaggeration if you ask me. "Your name is Malik, right? You're the token unwanted child of this orphanage, right? Amazing, you've spent almost seven years here and not a single person has shown interest in adopting you!"

"We aren't discussing me, Seto!" I reminded him. "I believe we were discussing you."

"Hm, you've got nerve," the brunette male remarked with a chuckle. "How about you be my test subject?"

"Do your worst!" I snapped, starting to lose my temper. Even I was beginning to feel stupid when I blurted out those very foolish words. I really should not have said that.

All the other orphans were yelling out suggestions for curses to him. Every suggestion was cruel and outrageous to the point where it just got excessive. Seto silenced them all with his hand and told them that the curse had to be somewhat legal at the very least. That was the moment where I started to become incredibly nervous.

Why didn't I just use common sense and stay well away from him in the first place?

"I got it," he announced with a smirk. "For someone as unwanted and unloved as you, this is what I'll do..." He locked eyes with me and trapped me in his menacing stare. His blue eyes glowed sapphire and I felt an uneasy energy surge right though me, possessing me entirely. I couldn't move or tear my eyes away. I was captured, bound.

_Help me!_ I pleaded with my eyes! Somebody, do something! Stop him! I got it, I'm the idiot! I don't want to learn my lesson like this! I won't challenge Seto ever again! Just let me go! Set me free! Why is nobody helping? Why is everyone just standing around watching? Is this just serving as an amusement to them? I thought using powers on other orphans was banned! One of the staff, come see!

No... I can tell that everyone's just going to stand by and let this happen. It was predetermined from birth. I'm just going to be a cursed, lonely child. I thought these lonesome feelings were enough of a curse for me as it is. But I guess not.

"Your curse shall be rather simple. Should you ever experience your first kiss, you'll be tied to that person for the rest of your life. Anything that person tells you to do, you will do it regardless of whether you want to or not. If you go forty-eight hours without kissing that person, you will be bound to me for the rest of your days as my slave. Got it?"

-

That day sealed everything. I withdrew from everyone and refused to get to know anybody. So long as I didn't have to kiss anyone, I was safe. Looking back, I think that was a really strange curse Seto gave me. But it did rub in the fact that the things I couldn't stand most were being not wanted and being bound to somebody. In a way, it's a bit of a paradox but I think that's just a part of me.

I did get adopted eventually. The adopter was of the Kawai family and they wanted a fourteen year old boy to play big brother to their eleven year old daughter. As I was the only fourteen year old at the time, I got to be the lucky one chosen.

The Kawai family ended up consisting of Oka-san – she'd instructed me to always refer to her as that, Shizuka and me. Their family used to be an Oto-san, Oka-san, Shizuka and the oldest sibling, Shizuka's older brother Katsuya. They were the original Jounouchi family. But some drama happened that caused the family to split – which is a big scandal in this type of society; Oka-san simply said that if asked about Oto-san I just respond that he died in battle. I didn't care about lying. I always said that both my parents passed away even though it was false in the case of my father.

The family split led to Oka-san taking Shizuka across the borders to another kingdom, the one in which I was born in. It's the Kaiba Kingdom and was led by King Gozaburo the II. Moving across borders is difficult and when you're on the run, it's even harder. Crossing over to Kaiba is an unspeakable thing for the Kawai family as the incident left Shizuka becoming permanently blind. The family simply didn't have enough money to treat it.

Shizuka also found it hard not having her brother with it, which was why I had to play that role. I didn't mind too much because even though I wasn't wanted, I was still needed.

I never did say what happened to Seto and Mokuba, did I? Turns out that Seto's powers were highly sought after and so he and his little brother got adopted by King Gozaburo himself, making the two of them royalty. King Gozaburo passed away when I was fifteen. Circumstances meant that the new crowned king was Seto himself.

What can I say? Life's a bitch.

Now I am seventeen and the curse still hasn't begun to take effect. I thought back then that perhaps I'd forget about that oddball curse he placed on me. That is not the case, obviously. With Seto as the king of the Kaiba kingdom, I guess they will never let me forget.

**~*~*~*~*~*~**

**Ha, I did kinda intend for the prologue to have a lot of cuts like that. And be short and to the point. Mostly because most of the plot is in the events that will happen and the characters' development rather than finding out about their backgrounds. Bakura and Malik will probably meet in either chapter one or two. Will have to see how that goes.**

**Oh yeah, exam season is coming up so expect me to find it rather tough to squeeze out updates and whatnot! But I will try my best to write whenever I have free time! I'll probably do things like this: update 'A Bad Case of Hopeless' next, then 'Bloody Brilliant', then this, then ABCOH, then BB... Yeah, I think you get the point. May as well get a routine going, haha.**

**Oh yes, review! Lemme know your thoughts. It sure helps motivation when exams are trying to attack you! 8D; Okay, enough with trying to gain pity points, I'm outta here. XD**

**Adios!**

**Mel-Girl.**


	2. stage

**Odd. I thought I'd be updating Bloody Brilliant next. But I'd been writing this at school while I usually write Bloody Brilliant and A Bad Case of Hopeless at home. I ended up finsihing this first so I decided to type it up and update this fic before moving back to Bloody Brilliant. I'm relieved that I have been remaining interested in all three fics because trust me, I usually can only remain focused on one fic at a time if I'm wanting to be able to update it lots. My mind shifts and so that's what many of my old fics are unfinished and stuff.**

**Like Bloody Brilliant, I think this fic will take a while to get real shippy. Though I suppose once Malik and Bakura meet, things will kick off, haha. Um, a lot of characters are mentioned in this chapter. XD Most of the major characters will be established here in other words. And I guess I'll stop rambling and let ya read. And I'm ignoring POVs here, woo. I think this fic won't have many character POVs. Just because there's a lot of characters with a lot of intentions and whatnot, so POVs would be difficult.**

**Readaread on~! X3**

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

prologue II.

**stage.**

A young king of nineteen years old sat in the throne with a rather smug expression attached to his face. He was the only man present in the brightly lit room. It was almost time to tend to the daily matters and concerns. His azure eyes darted about the room absentmindedly despite how he always had that focused look about him, with the way he sat tall and his expression that meant business.

There was a knock on the door and the king called for him to enter. Ah, it was Prince Mokuba. He rushed up to his brother in energetic bounds.

"Nii-sama! I heard a rumour that Lord Yami of the Mutou kingdom was coming to this palace! The Yami Mutou!" he babbled out in his burst of excitement.

His 'Nii-sama' King Seto smirked. "I personally invited him here myself. There are a few hundred in this kingdom with powers and an even more miniscule number of those who have extraordinary abilities," he explained, shifting out of his throne chair to pace about the room. "I want to establish an alliance between the Kaiba and Mutou kingdoms but truth is, I mostly want to see Lord Yami's powers and let him know that my own abilities are still superior!"

Mokuba beamed. "Nobody beats your powers! You can give curses to anyone – well, within the conditions of course the conditions are easily met! And your curses have no limitations! But..." he frowned slightly. "What about King Atemu? What of his powers?"

"I plan to find out through Lord Yami what his powers are. The thing is that his powers aren't just known by anybody."

"But he can't just keep his powers secret from his own kingdom, can he?"

Seto rolled his eyes. "It's his kingdom; he can run it how he likes. But through Lord Yami, I believe I can uncover the truth about King Atemu." He turned to his younger brother and ruffled his hair. "Do me a favour..." He pulled a scroll out of his pocket and handed it to Mokuba. "Pass this onto Lord Ishtar."

The dark-haired prince took the scroll with a grin. "Can do, Nii-sama!" He skipped on out of the room and the king sat back on his throne with a smirk. So far, things were all going accordingly.

He never liked to be stuck in the same room as Lord Mariku Ishtar. The resemblance between him and that odd kid back at the Domino Orphanage was uncanny. Knowing that Mariku went from an orphan to a lord only proved his beliefs that those with powers ruled over the weak, the powerless, aka the majority. Where did that kid – Malik, was it? Where did he go? Is he still at the orphanage?

Funny, Malik was bound to show before him sometime in his life. Considering the curse he gave him and all. But then again, maybe he's yet to be kissed?

The king sighed. There was no need to delve into the past. That was the problem with seeing Lord Ishtar. Too much nostalgia returns and tries to get in the way of thoughts and concerns that actually matter. 'Would I ever have Malik as my slave?' Seto made that his last thought before he sorted out his priorities like how exactly he was going to get information out of Lord Yami.

-

"Bakura-kun! Did you hear? Did you hear?" a white-haired man called out as he saw his brother pace down the hallway in the direction of the library. His brother was quick to shove something in his pocket and summon up a false grin to his face. "Lady Miho was kind enough to show me what he looks like! Oh you know, don't you?"

"Lord Ryou, of course I know!" Bakura replied, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice. "Lord Yami and Lord Yugi are going to visit our kingdom! So Lord Yami can show off his powers, knowing the king's ways. That's all he cares about."

Even though he and Ryou are twins, he could never act genuinely friendly around him. There was a time where the brothers were incredibly close but Ryou's ability to have visions of the future compared to Bakura's lack of abilities would always place Ryou ahead of him. When Ryou was made a lord and Bakura wasn't, it created a rift between them that Ryou wished to fix. Bakura on the other hand was unwilling to fix anything.

"Well, isn't it amazing? King Seto is wonderful as he is but Lord Yami is like the opposite of him! While our king can curse people, Lord Yami can undo misfortunes! Lady Miho used her abilities to conjure up an image of Lord Yami himself and well, he is rather dashing..." Ryou smiled to himself, remembering the handsome looks of Lord Yami. "Oh and his twin brother Lord Yugi is like a more adorable version of Lord Yami!"

"I get it, I get it!" Bakura snapped. He heard this rumour from everyone else and he didn't and still doesn't care for it. There was only one reason he liked the whole hype over the duo visiting the Kaiba kingdom: it took all attention away from plotting behind the scenes. So Bakura could start making his move.

"Bakura-kun..." Ryou mumbled nervously. He sighed in defeat. Was it always going to be like this? He and Bakura used to get along really well... The fact that Ryou had powers didn't bother Bakura so much before. Why did it all change when King Seto made Ryou a lord and gave him ownership over the Touzoku region?

He knew Bakura disliked the king. Perhaps he disliked the fact that being a lord meant that Ryou was closely tied to the king.

"So... uh..." Ryou was trying to think up a new approach. "I heard that Lord Yami was going to use his powers on all the commoners! Back in the Mutou kingdom, he's done things like fix a man's deafness and even repaired a prized possession that everyone thought could never be fixed! Even though one might consider them simple things, I think they're acts of kindness!" He saw Bakura's bored expression and tried to skip straight to the point. "He might even fix misfortune in our lives!"

Bakura glared. There were many ways he could respond to that. Eventually he sighed and decided to go easy on him. "Does that mean Lord Yami could get rid of the king? Cuz he's a fucking misfortune!"

And with that, he stalked over to the door to the library, went inside and slammed the door behind him. Ryou flinched the moment Bakura swore and also when the bang of the doors slamming shut occurred. He bit his lip. Before he was made a lord, the two of them never fought with each other so he never learned how to resolve things with Bakura.

He clasped his hands together. Would he be granted with a vision today? King Seto considered Ryou's abilities a very good asset but there were problems with his powers. Ryou couldn't always just summon up visions whenever he wanted. Plus the future is forever changing with each passing event. Even though his visions were always accurate, they could also be changed and then a new vision would be the truth.

His brother's hatred for the king was even stronger than his own distaste towards Ryou. That very hatred worried Ryou even more. Every day, he needed to assure himself that Bakura wouldn't cross the line and do something truly terrible.

"Please," he pleaded to himself, "please give me a vision regarding Bakura-kun's future!" He waited. Nothing happened. He let out a sigh. "Please... please... please! I need to know at least something!" His eyes began to get watery. 'How long would it be before I finally know anything of my own brother's future?' he thought, wiping his eyes. 'I want to know... I so desperately want to know!'

Footsteps could be heard and Ryou knew he had to shut away the sadness instantly and lay on the charm thick. When he saw that it was the prince – the only one who was born with royal blood, Prince Noa, he smiled warmly.

Lately all the lords, ladies and members of the royal family had been hanging around the Palace of Seth since King Seto had all reigned them in. So it was pretty easy to see those of a high status wherever you went.

"Good afternoon, Prince Noa-kun! What can I do for you..?"

-

Bakura tried to ignore the way all the women in the library had looked up from their books to gaze at him while he peeped outside, waiting until Ryou would disappear. He didn't really care that they all liked the fact that the way he was bent and positioned meant that his butt was sticking out in their direction.

'Proper ladies shouldn't be ogling the asses of men like me,' he thought irritably. His eyes lit up when he saw that Ryou had gone off with Prince Noa and his brother's voice could no longer be heard.

He loved his brother really, but he couldn't like anyone who swore loyalty to a bastard like King Seto. In all honesty, if he was the one with the powers, if he was the one made a lord, then things would be totally different.

Just the fact that he had no powers whatsoever made him hate the way the kingdom was run. The thing was that ever since there was a monarchy, the kingdom always favoured the powerful: those who had abilities and amazing, unique talents not commonly possessed by a person. It was simple but that bias run deep no matter where you went. The only reason Bakura was able to live in an expensive manor was because he lived with his brother and his brother just happened to have an extraordinary ability so he was made a lord. All because his brother was considered to be special above others.

It drew constant comparisons between the two brothers. Bakura always acted like he didn't care but that didn't mean there was no bruises or scarring. It was simple. He hated the way the kingdom was run. It didn't matter who was king – if these laws and ways remained, Bakura would always hate that king who enforced this stupid society.

Prince Mokuba appeared from around the corner, having lost the spring in his step from when he was talking to his older brother. Bakura scowled. He especially disliked Mokuba. Stupid, snotty kid who worships the ground Seto walks on. The young prince looked puzzled however. Bakura noticed the scroll Mokuba was holding and decided to put on a facade.

"Prince Mokuba, what a delight to see you!" Bakura greeted him with open arms. Mokuba raised an eyebrow; he was incredibly accustomed to snarky, unfriendly Bakura who if someone went up to hug him, he would push them away and say, 'Don't touch me!' So Mokuba wasn't sure how to react to this. "You're looking a bit lost! Can I help you out?"

"Um... Nii-sama wanted me to deliver a scroll to Lord Ishtar! So uh, Bakura-san, have you seen Lord Ishtar or know where he is?"

Bakura grinned. "Now why should a prince like you have to be a messenger? I was just going to see Lord Ishtar now so I can deliver the message to him!"

"Oh, then may I leave delivering this scroll to you?" Mokuba asked. He didn't particularly like Bakura, but he's Lord Ryou's brother so he wouldn't screw up a simple task like this. If the scroll contained information of uttermost importance, Mokuba knew his brother would just deliver the information himself.

"My, it would be an honour!" Bakura took the scroll from Mokuba. "Now, why don't you run along? Since the news of Lord Yami and Lord Yugi visiting the Palace of Seth has been spread around, a lot of us can be off-duty! So I don't think you have to be under Kisara-san's watchful eyes all the time."

The dark-haired prince nodded. "Kisara-sensei has been training by herself again since last week! So I've been free to do what I want! Have fun talking to Lord Ishtar! Tell him I say hi!" And with that, he ran off. Bakura rolled his eyes. Mokuba is still a child. Even though the young prince was thirteen years old, he still didn't have enough common sense to know that giving Bakura a scroll meant for someone else addressed from the king wasn't the smartest of ideas.

Bakura saw he was alone and opened up the scroll. Reading its contents, he found that it wasn't worth stealing it off Mokuba after all. The first servant he saw then had the job of delivering the scroll given to them.

-a week later-

Lord Yugi shuffled about in the carriage while his brother had a rather complicated expression on his face. Yugi wasn't very confident and wasn't sure how he would greet the people when they arrived. But this meeting would help seal the deal. An alliance between two kingdoms was a very good thing. Having allies helped stability and allowed kingdoms to move forward into a peaceful era. So he couldn't let nerves get the better of him.

"Brother, how is it that you can keep so calm and composed?" Yugi asked, unable to bear the difference in their levels of confidence.

Yami snapped himself out of his thoughts and glanced at Yugi, then back at the window. With one finger, he flicked blonde bangs out of his eyes and found himself then staring at his reflection in the window rather than seeing the scenery of Murasaki City, the main city in the Kaiba kingdom; the city where the Palace of Seth resides, where King Seto resides.

'Is this a look of composure?' Yami wondered, touching the reflection of his face. He examined his expensive garments, clothes only a Lord could possibly afford and have the right to wear. 'But I cannot be anything other than composed, can I? I guess because I'm the lord of one of the most important regions in the Mutou kingdom, not to mention have this power... I guess I have no right to lose composure.'

Yugi sighed, seeing that Yami wasn't going to answer his question. He didn't mind though. It wasn't a question worth answering. Yugi already knew Yami well enough to know why his brother was able to be this way. He also knew that Yami had been contemplating everything since they began their journey from their kingdom to this very city.

They heard the driver of the carriage call out to them. "In a few minutes, we'll reach the front gate of the palace! Prepare to be welcomed by a big crowd! Everyone's been anticipating your arrival!"

The younger brother of the two lords, Yugi called back. "Thank you for alerting us, Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi was always friendly towards everyone, treating them like equals. Even though Jounouchi was only a mere servant of his, the two were unusually close friends. Yami felt it was an admirable quality of Yugi's, thus why he asked him to accompany him to this very palace. He felt Yugi's kindness would be an asset in terms of keeping a friendly atmosphere around.

"Well, are you ready, Aibou?" Yugi grinned at Yami calling him that. It had been a long time since he'd called him Aibou.

"Ready as I'll ever be!"

The two lords looked at the windows and were met by the stares of crowds who anxiously awaited their arrival in front of the castle. Yugi peered closely and saw that at the very entrance to the castle itself were all the significant people of this kingdom. The lords and the royal family itself. Among them would be the king himself.

What kind of man is King Seto? That was the question that took up the thoughts of the twin lords. As the carriage stopped before a red carpet that would lead them to the doors into the Palace of Seth, Yugi took a deep breath. He looked at Yami, who returned his stare. Without another word, they watched as the other servant that escorted them – Honda, opened the carriage doors and placed some steps for them to use.

They were greeted by huge cheers from the crowd, all in awe of the two lords. Some were quite amazed at the way they looked – nobody had seen such unusual hair after all. Lord Ryou was peering through binoculars from where he stood to get a better look. "Wow, to see how they look in person!" he gasped excitedly, while Bakura rolled his eyes. He snuck a look at King Seto himself, who kept his usual smirk.

Lord Mariku Ishtar was down at the opposite end of the carpet to the other lords. He was a few metres away from Lord Yami and Lord Yugi, opening up a scroll. The crowd silenced themselves, allowing the flaxen blonde lord to speak.

"I, Lord Ishtar, am proud to present to you all... Lord Yami and Lord Yugi of the Atemu kingdom! We welcome you here from the bottom of our hearts!" Bakura grinned as Mariku read these words out from the scroll. He knew Lord Mariku would never genuinely mean those words. The way he read the scroll was so practised – he even looked a bit bored with what he was doing.

That was the message that King Seto wanted Mokuba to pass on – that Lord Mariku would do the welcoming speech and escort the two lords down the carpet. Bakura pondered for a moment whether if he never got that scroll to Mariku and doing the job himself would be worth it. It would be nice to spite Seto every once in a while after all.

Mariku watched Lord Yami out of the corner of his eye while he read out more of his speech. Compared to the fidgety twin of his, Yami was incredibly calm in this situation. Nor was Yami acting like a celebrity and posing for the crowd. In fact, Yami was too busy staring at the king, who he'd managed to pick out from the group at the other end of the red carpet. When Mariku finished his speech, the crowd erupted in cheers once more and he began to escort the two lords down the carpet.

'He's not taking his eyes off the king, huh..?' Mariku observed as he walked alongside Yami. 'I don't think Lord Yugi is worth my time but I would surely like to use my powers to test the extent of yours, Lord Yami. If I find out the information that King Seto wants before he does, then I might have the upper hand! Now that would make things rather interesting... wouldn't they?'

In amongst the crowd were some people that had travelled across the kingdom for this very event. At the very back, many couldn't see or hear what was going on, especially with the loud cheers and jumping of those in front of them. A seventeen year old boy had his arm wrapped around his younger sister of fourteen, just to keep her by his side securely. He already adjusted to the odd attention they were receiving. It's not often you see a dark skinned male accompanying a pale-skinned girl with bandages wrapped around her head, covering her eyes. Not in this society.

The two are brother and sister though nobody would believe it. The older of the two, Malik was adopted into the family and has since had to take care of a blind girl named Shizuka. Their reason for travelling across the country to Murasaki City was simple: if Lord Yami was going to use his abilities to help the commoners, perhaps he could fix Shizuka's eyesight once and for all.

"Damn it!" Malik cursed. "I said I would be your eyes but I couldn't even get us a good spot in the crowd for this arrival ceremony! What's more, we can't even hear or see what's going on from here either!"

Shizuka tugged on Malik's sleeve. "Um, Malik-nii-san... I don't mind if we don't get anything for now... All that matters is um... getting the results we came for, right?"

Malik smiled at her. True, the two of them had travelled knowing that the journey would be tough and things wouldn't always go right. Malik was used to things not going right anyway. He knew that getting Shizuka's eyesight fixed was all that mattered for now. To finally see Shizuka take off those bandages once and for all will truly be a spectacle.

"And you know about my curse, eh? Maybe Lord Yami will be able to fix that too!" Malik added with a grin. Shizuka already knew of his curse – Malik could trust her with almost all his secrets.

"Oh, that would be wonderful if he could!" Shizuka replied, returning Malik's smile. Malik was glad he could go to Murasaki City with her. He needed someone he was close to for comfort, especially when faced with setting foot into the very city where the man who cursed him resides. Why did that very man have to be the king? Malik dearly hoped that he wouldn't have to confront him.

'No,' Malik shook his head. 'I'm a commoner with no ties to any lords or anyone of a status in which they could lead me to King Seto. I won't have to face him again. I won't ever have to face my curse. Even if I can't forget it, I can still avoid it.'

As Lord Mariku, Lord Yami and Lord Yugi approached the lords, ladies and members of the royal family, King Seto smirked. Everything was going all according to plan. All the necessary components were here. Everyone important was here in Murasaki City. Soon he would uncover what he needed. His power could reach new heights. He could go beyond what no man has ever accomplished.

He had one last thought before he did his part in this arrival ceremony for the two lords of the Mutou kingdom.

'The stage is set. Let's see what you can offer to my empire, Lord Yami!'

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

**I FEEL ALL GUILTY FOR HAVING MALIK, MARIKU, JOUNOUCHI AND SHIZUKA ALL IN THE SAME PLACE AND NONE OF THEM KNOWING THAT THE OTHER IS HERE. ;___; But sadly Mariku has no clue what happened to his brother, Shizuka's blind so she can't see that Jounouchi was the carriage driver and she and Malik weren't in a good spot to see or hear Mariku either. Gah. I feel weirdly bad over that, haha.**

**And yup, speaking of Mariku, he'll be plotting too in his own way. He's not as anti-Seto as Bakura is, he just wants to mess with Seto for the heck, haha. You'll see. Can't wait for Mariku to discover Seto's past ties with Malik either. Er anyway, that's all for now! Review? :3**

**Adios!**

**Mel-Girl.**


	3. kiss

**Gah, I haven't updated this in a while. So yeah, here's a new chapter. :D I'll hopefully update all my other crap soon. I just got inspired for this a little more seeing as I figured some points to make this more interesting. I really want to get to the point where I don't have to switch to other characters so much. But there really are kind of three stories within this. You'll see.**

**I can't help but feel I could've done better but considering I've been procrastinating a lot instead of writing, I suppose this will do. XDD This chapter shall kick off the plot though! So please enjoy/review/whatever! :D**

* * *

chapter I.

**kiss.**

Malik groaned first thing in the morning when he looked out his window from the inn he and Shizuka were staying at and saw that there was a huge queue of people wanting to get into the Palace of Seth to see Lord Yami. He knew that there was a limit of people each day in order to not exhaust the man. Many people had travelled from all around the kingdom to see him and Malik realised that it would take a long while before he would be able to meet Lord Yami. Then he was struck with a thought. Most of the people in that queue are simply keeping the person who actually needs help company, right?

"Shizuka-chan! Are you awake yet?" the tanned blonde called out to his sister. She called back a yes and he went back into the bedroom they had to share. They had a limited budget and were stuck with a living space of two rooms. Malik helped her out of bed and chose her an outfit to wear before helping her get dressed. He was pretty much used to see Shizuka naked as he always had to help her bathe, get dressed among other things. Malik didn't particularly mind this and Shizuka knew he wasn't going to try anything either. After all, they were siblings and Malik felt he could trust Shizuka more than he could trust himself.

"Um, I could hear a lot of noise going on outside, Malik-nii-san. What's going on?" Shizuka asked worriedly.

The blonde frowned a little. "There are a lot of people who want to see Lord Yami. I know I grabbed us rooms close to the Palace of Seth but it looks like it'll take more than just that to meet him."

"If it's me that's holding us up from getting there quickly I..." Shizuka was silenced by Malik's embrace. He patted her head gently and grinned at her.

"Don't worry, Shizuka-chan. It's Malik-nii-san who should've seen this coming and prepared us to leave earlier this morning."

Once the two were ready to go, they left and walked the streets of Murasaki City. It wasn't long before they found the end of the queue waiting outside the Palace of Seth. With a sigh, Malik pulled Shizuka to the back of the line and told her that hundreds of people are ahead of them. She bit her lip and Malik knew she was worried about how long they'd be waiting.

He wished he could think up good words of encouragement but he couldn't help but look at the line and think that today just wasn't going to be their day.

-

Mariku and Bakura decided to take a walk in the gardens of the Palace of Seth. They could hear the crowds building up outside the palace gates and Mariku commented that Lord Yami was definitely going to have a shit day. Bakura raised an eyebrow; he often found Mariku to be good company. Whenever he needed someone blunt and upfront, Mariku was the guy. It certainly helped that Mariku wasn't fond of King Seto either unlike all the other lords who literally worshipped the current occupier of the throne.

The ceremony welcoming Lord Yami and Lord Yugi was yesterday and afterwards, Lord Ryou and Lord Mariku were forced to take them for a tour around the Palace of Seth. After the tour was a banquet for all the Lords and Ladies of the Kaiba kingdom that Yami and Yugi also attended alongside King Seto. As Bakura was only a relative of a lord, he wasn't allowed to join the festivities. Not that he cared. All those Lords and Ladies had special powers and he didn't really want to watch King Seto bask in his own pride. He did appreciate Mariku reporting back what happened to him however.

"So Ryou was really into the tour thing while I was like, 'that's a plant, that's a painting, that's a bathroom'... It was a fucking pain because Ryou just had to go into detail about everything but shit, if you watched him, you could tell he totally had eyes for Lord Yami. Don't particularly understand what's so appealing about a spiky-haired freak but everyone's got their own tastes, I suppose..."

Bakura laughed. "Mariku, you are a spiky-haired freak. So my stupid brother is infatuated with Yami, huh?"

"Ugh, at the banquet Ryou kept trying to find ways to talk to Lord Yami but he was too focused on the King. So Ryou decided to buddy up to Lord Yugi for the meantime, it seems. All the girls were caught up in stupid chatter and I found absolutely no one to relate to," Mariku continued to explain, making the occasional hand gesture for emphasis. "King Seto was definitely looking proud of himself and he only had eyes for Lord Yami. I'm thinking of using my powers against Lord Yami..."

"Oh?" Bakura raised an eyebrow as they stopped at the fountain. Mariku leant down and dipped his hand into the water, twirling his fingers about and watching the ripples with fascination. "What for?"

Mariku shrugged. "I'll... brainwash Yami into screwing over all those people pleading for his help?"

The white-haired teenager glared at the tanned lord and gave him a swift kick. "Those people don't have the power in which to defend themselves! That Yami bastard is all they have in terms of patching up the things only those with powers can solve!" Mariku's eyes averted back to Bakura, ignoring the fact he kicked him.

He withdrew his hand from the fountain water and chuckled. "Indeed, you would relate to that, wouldn't you? Must suck to be surrounded by people like me..." With a scowl, Bakura drew back his fist in preparation to punch but he hesitated at Mariku letting out a sudden laughter. "Oh, you really haven't changed. In your own way, you do care for the majority of people – well, the powerless ones. I guess it makes sense because you're really one of them. If it weren't for the fact you were born Ryou's twin, you would be elsewhere I suppose. Harvesting food for the king or milking cows."

There were those times where Bakura wanted to throttle Lord Mariku on the spot. This was probably one of those moments.

After all, Mariku was quite a power hungry person too. Bakura heard about Mariku and Seto coming from the same orphanage, which made him wonder if that orphanage was where demon kids got dumped, because Mariku and Seto are both incredibly disagreeable people, especially the latter from where Bakura saw things. But Bakura felt proud; Mariku always thought Seto would lay a curse upon Bakura but such a thing has not happened yet. Even though Bakura knew King Seto was aware of how Bakura felt about him, nothing happened. Bakura grinned to himself. He knew why. Yes, he had no actual power of his own but still, King Seto knew he wasn't a threat to him.

Would he explain his secret to Mariku? Of course not, Mariku might try using it to his advantage. In a way, the two weren't really friends at all. It's just that they didn't really get along with any of the other lords and ladies so they made do with each other.

Bakura's hand dropped to his side. "When I get what I want, you're one of the first to the chopping block. So don't push it," he warned before making a beeline out of the palace gardens. He bumped straight into Miho and simply shoved her aside with no care for how she and the others would feel about that.

-

Ryou looked down to the gardens with a sigh as he watched Bakura leave Mariku at the fountain. Mariku was laughing his head off but Ryou wasn't able to tell what was going on from simply observing from a distance. Lord Yugi was walking down the hallway when he spotted the white-haired lord sitting by the giant window in one of the libraries. He approached him, happily recognising him from last night's banquet. Ryou blushed instantly, mistaking him for Lord Yami. When he realised it was the lord's brother, he breathed a sigh, though he wasn't quite sure of the emotion.

"Ah, Lord Yugi! How do you do?" he asked politely. Yugi smiled warmly.

"I'm doing well. While my brother is off performing his miracles to other people, I have quite a lot of free time on my hands. I've noticed that King Seto has taken much interest in him too. Perhaps this can mean an alliance between my kingdom and yours shall be certain," he replied cheerfully. He saw Ryou's sad expression at the mention of King Seto and frowned. "Forgive me; I said something wrong, didn't I?"

The whitenette lord bit his lip and shook his head. "I don't know; the king's needs and desires are top priority. I'm just young and hopeful, thinking I actually have a chance with..." He hung his head low and his pale cheeks flushed pink once again. "...Lord Yami."

Yugi patted Ryou on the shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sure you'll get your chance. Even if King Seto is with my brother, watching how he performs his miracles, there'll be a chance for you to get to know him!" he hoped his attempts to cheer up the melancholic teenager would prove successful and to his relief, Ryou cracked a smile.

"Y-Yes, you're right," Ryou agreed weakly. "In fact, I'll uh... ask him to have tea with me next time I see him!"

"That's the spirit, Lord Ryou!" Yugi grinned. Ryou shook his head at him.

"Just call me Ryou."

"Right. You can just call me Yugi."

Neither of them said it, but the two felt like they really did properly become friends at that very moment. Ryou felt incredibly relieved. He didn't think any of the others would understand. The servants would listen but it was their job; Ryou knew that as a lord, it was hard to tell apart someone who was genuine and someone who was not. But he had a good feeling about Yugi. He looked like someone who would understand. It sure helps that he's Yami's brother even!

His body began to feel much lighter. For a moment, he thought it was out of relief but when his vision started to blur, he realised what was going on. 'Why now?!' he thought in panic. Yugi looked at him with a confused expression upon his gasp. He cried out in alarm as Ryou collapsed to the floor holding his head in his hands.

Flashes of images appeared in Ryou's mind and he instantly knew it was definitely a vision. He tried to zone out so he could fully concentrate on what he was seeing.

_One._

Bakura is discussing something with Lady Mai and a teenager that Ryou couldn't identify was with them. Ryou couldn't see the teenager properly but could tell that he had flaxen blonde hair and tanned skin. He felt like it could've been Mariku yet he got that feeling it wasn't him.

_Two._

He saw Bakura plunge a sword right through a girl's heart and piercing out the other side of her. She smiles and takes out the blade with her own hand and holds it at Bakura's throat.

_Three._

Soldiers from a kingdom Ryou couldn't identify could be seen rushing through Murasaki City, setting fire to everything. Bakura and four others were watching the attack from a hill overlooking the city. Ryou could only confirm a few things about the other four. One was definitely Mariku, another was the blonde boy from before but as for the other two, he couldn't be sure.

_Four._

In a prison cell within the quarters where the criminals with a death sentence would be placed was a young man chained to the wall. He looked severely beaten; his body was covered in bruises and was quite thin.

Without a doubt, Ryou knew who the young man was. The visions left him and the current situation at hand returned to him. He realised Yugi had called over servants to help him. They had lifted him up and were taking him to his room to rest up. He felt slight comfort in that someone was gripping his hand tight. Maybe it was Yugi. But that didn't change what he just saw.

His voice was weak as he attempted to call out Bakura's name. But no. He could not be heard.

The world from his eyes turned into pitch darkness.

-

Hours had passed since Yami began his duties that day. He had seen many people and helped fixed broken bones, bad illnesses and the like. After using his powers on hundreds of different people, he was exhausted. Or at least it felt like hundreds of people. Seto watched him intently from a corner of the room. He counted the number of people Yami could use his powers on before getting exhausted. It was over two hundred.

A family who had their Siamese twins separated by Yami's powers left the room and Honda asked if he should go invite the next person in. Yami shook his head.

"I think I'm done for the day. I started rather early and it's past midday. If it's alright with you." He turned to Seto for his approval.

The king simply nodded, mentally taking in what he'd witnessed. "Mm. Let's go get food."

Yami studied him carefully. He knew Seto's focus was completely on him and that made him almost uncomfortable. There was no way of telling how Seto felt; his intentions were masked from all. Whenever he shot a look at him, the king's azure eyes were always looking at him and nothing else. Never had he considered himself an enigma to others but ever since they met, it was as if Seto saw nothing else.

Why would he look at him like that? He didn't dare ask. Sometimes he wondered if the king had already seen through him. No, it couldn't be like that.

Maybe King Seto is just an incredibly curious person? After all, Yami did have powers Seto had never seen before. But still, to watch Yami use the same sort of power over and over to the point of exhaustion seemed excessive.

"Indeed," he agreed. "Oh!" He turned to Honda. "Can you notify the people that I've finished up for the day?"

Seto smirked. "Those poor people... They've been waiting all day and still don't get to see you," he commented. Yami shrugged and said the amount of people he can use his powers on in one go tends to vary; he still hadn't worked out an exact approximation. Seto knew what he really meant was that it just couldn't be helped. The two left the room together out a door where they didn't have to look out the window and see the people that were still waiting. "So I suppose you'll do another round of that tomorrow?"

Yami nodded. "That I will," he replied, "and for the rest of this week as well."

"Hmm... I guess I will watch this conduct. Your powers are quite intriguing. I mean, they are in a sense, the opposite of mine." Yami's eyes widened at this. The opposite to miracles? He suddenly felt nervous being around King Seto. If what he performed were miracles, then the opposite would certainly be terrible. With an all-knowing smirk, Seto made a sudden turn around a corner only to almost walk right into a servant rushing towards him. He leered. "What is it?" Yami followed him to see the servant as well.

The servant began to fiddle with his fingers. "U-Um... Lord Ryou fainted and he's just woken up. He thinks he's had a vision so is okay a good time to escort you to him?" he asked weakly.

Seto rolled his eyes. "When he's ready, he will go to me immediately about what he's seen." Yami's eyes widened.

"Visions, did you say?" he enquired. "As in visions of the future?" Seto nodded slightly. "That's amazing! Can we go to see Lord Ryou?" Yami asked hopefully only to receive a no as an answer.

It wasn't like he was against people knowing of Ryou's powers. Seto just felt that Yami shouldn't see Ryou. He didn't want to watch the spiky-haired lord pay attention to someone else. It was much more intriguing when Yami looked to him and only him. In Seto's mind, he thought that Yami shouldn't care that there were others in the Palace of Seth with fascinating powers.

"We're going to go and eat now," Seto stated flatly. As they were about to continue on their way to one of the dining rooms, they heard loud footsteps as if someone was running. They paused and waited to see who were coming.

Bakura sprinted down the hallway at top speed with the clear intent of getting away from something. King Seto and Lord Yami decided not to interfere when they saw that Bakura wasn't carrying anything on him. The two watched as Bakura disappeared into the next room. They heard more footsteps and saw Ryou running down the hallway with Yugi close on his tail pleading for him to wait. Yami yelled out at them to stop but only Yugi listened.

Yugi gasped for breath. He truly thought Ryou would stop as well, solely because it was Yami of all people telling him to. Yami turned to Seto as Ryou went through to the next room, calling out Bakura's name.

"That was Lord Ryou, wasn't it? Chasing down that man who looks related to him... Don't you want him to stop?" asked Yami with a raised eyebrow. Seto didn't give him a proper answer and with a turn of his heel, he was back to making his way to a dining room.

"Uh, I'm going to go back to chasing down Ryou. I have a bad feeling. You go with the king." Without another word, Yugi went back to chasing Ryou down. He swung open the door to the next room and saw that Ryou collapsed onto the floor. "Ryou! Ryou, are you okay?!"

It didn't take long for him to realise that Ryou was crying. He was mumbling out the occasional word but Yugi couldn't make sense of it. All he could tell from what Ryou was yelling out while chasing Bakura was that he had a vision and it involved his brother. Yugi felt he could be sure of two things.

One, Ryou had a vision about Bakura.

Two, what he saw in the vision was bad.

With this knowledge alone, Yugi couldn't help but feel like coming to the Kaiba kingdom was going to make things take a turn for the worse.

-

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Those words repeated themselves many times in Bakura's head as he made his way to the palace exit. He didn't care what Ryou had to say to him. The fact that he was babbling about visions and chasing him told him enough. No matter what the vision was; Bakura didn't want to know. As far as he was concerned, staying away from Ryou was better for the both of them.

He saw the crowd protesting and from what he could hear, the people weren't pleased about Lord Yami finishing up for the day. Nobody wanted to leave after waiting for so long.

Bakura looked back and wasn't sure if Ryou was still following him. With a sigh, he slipped through the exit and disappeared into the crowd knowing that it would be difficult for Ryou to spot him in amongst so many people.

-

"Shizuka-chan, forgive me," Malik managed to say clearly enough amongst the ruckus. "But it seems we won't be getting your eyesight fixed today. I know we've been waiting an incredibly long time and haven't eaten since this morning but... It's just not happening today." He felt his eyes getting teary. They barely got through a good chunk of the line today. How long would it be before he and Shizuka could meet Lord Yami and have Shizuka's eyesight fixed once and for all?

The blind girl placed a hand on Malik's chest and eventually her hand found its way to Malik's cheek. She didn't say anything but Malik knew she wasn't blaming him.

Suddenly Malik felt a shift in the crowd and soon he realised that someone was trying to push and shove their way through. But not to get to the front. To get away. Malik blinked in confusion and soon all the people began to change directions; most of them had given up with waiting for today and were now leaving. He saw a man push Shizuka away from him and he cried out in alarm when he felt someone coming towards him.

He turned and saw someone who was nothing like anything he'd ever seen before. The person had clothes like that of a lord, a definite occupant of the Palace of Seth. His eyes a deep shade of brown and his expression hurried; Malik knew this man was not of the ordinary. For his hair was a striking white that went down past his shoulders with two points on top of his head sticking out like the ears of a rabbit.

"Malik-nii-san!" Shizuka cried out, getting pulled away by the wave of people. Malik glanced back in her direction with panic. Suddenly, he heard another man telling someone to move already. He turned back and felt the white-haired man's lips collide with his own.

The noise of the crowd began to die down. A glow emitted from Malik's body and the people surrounding the two gasped in reaction to this. The man's eyes were wide open in shock and Malik couldn't tell what was going on either. All he could see was a white light and all he could feel was the warmth of lips against his. 'W-What's...?' A light bulb flickered in his mind when he finally caught on. 'No! No!' He pulled away and the colours of the world around him filled in the blank white once more. 'How could I be so careless?!'

Some of the people began to yell at the two. One person told them to get a room but others were pointing out, "That man was glowing! Does he have special powers?" Malik saw the white-haired man try to make a break for it but his arm yanked him back of its own accord.

"Let go of me!" the man snapped furiously.

"N-No! I can't!" Malik shot back, grabbing at him with his other arm.

"Then we'll get out of here together if you're so fucking stubborn!" he yelled in response. Malik agreed to this as they both ducked past those within the crowd.

"Malik-nii-san! Help me!" Shizuka called and Malik let out a gasp. The man averted his eyes to him and raised an eyebrow. Without another word, he disappeared into the crowd leaving Malik by himself. Malik struggled with what to do and he decided to get out of the surge within the crowd. Once he finally made it outside of the masses, he jumped onto a wooden box to try get a better view. He couldn't see Shizuka but he could spot the white-haired man heading away from him.

To Malik's surprise, the man started heading back towards him and it wasn't long before he stepped out from the hordes of people with Shizuka in tow. She was sobbing loudly in fright and couldn't tell of the man's intentions.

Malik smiled in relief. "Shizuka-chan, you're alright!" He rushed over to embrace her. "I'm sorry we got separated in the crowd. But thanks to um... this guy, we both got out of the crowd." He turned to the man and nodded. "Your name?" he asked, curiously.

The man shrugged. "Just call me Bakura. Anyway, I'll be on my way now!" Malik's hand shot out and grabbed Bakura's hand and pulled him back yet again. "What's with you? Did you enjoy that kiss or something?!"

"Kiss?!" Shizuka gasped. "Malik-nii-san, that means-"

"I know, I know!" Malik interrupted her with an upset tone of voice. Shizuka immediately went silent. "Bakura-san, my name is Malik and this is my sister Shizuka-chan. I know we've barely met but it looks like we'll have to put up with one another. Please come with me and I'll explain everything."

Bakura examined this Malik kid carefully. He knew for certain that he resembled that lord Mariku Ishtar. Even their names are rather similar. That same flaxen blonde hair and those same amethyst eyes. Yet this Malik person looked like a commoner. He knew Mariku came from the Domino Orphanage and so perhaps it was possible that Mariku really did have a brother. And perhaps this brother was standing right before his very eyes. Why did he glow when he kissed him? Bakura had no clue. But Malik was staring at him, clearly stressed by the situation. So would he follow him? He wasn't sure.

But he decided that it would be worth investigating this Malik... to see if he really was linked to Lord Mariku. Who knows? Maybe Malik could be of use to him.

"Right. I'll go with you," Bakura told him. Malik breathed a sigh. At least Bakura was giving him a chance to explain himself.

Malik was already considering all the potential outcomes from this. Would Bakura believe his story? If he didn't, what would Malik do? Would he have to resign to his curse? And if Bakura did believe him, what would go on from there? Was he going to have to remain by Bakura's side forever?

In reality, Malik wanted to scream. He wanted to throw a fit. How could he let this happen? Yet he had to face reality. It happened and now he had to work out what to do from there.

"I have one thing to ask," Malik spoke; Bakura looked at him curiously. "Do you know of King Seto's powers? I know lots of people who don't but I was wondering if you do?"

Bakura flinched. 'Shit. You got to be kidding me. How could this kid know unless...?' He thought about it carefully. Then he understood. "You've been cursed, haven't you? And the reason why... Why you're determined to have me stay..."

"Is because thanks to that kiss, you've now become entangled within this curse," Malik finished Bakura's sentence for him.

He never thought Seto's powers were going to get him. After all, there was something that a person without special powers had as an advantage over those that did. For every person that had a power, there was someone who repelled that power even if it turned out to be a bad thing. The truth is; the one man who Seto cannot lay a curse on is Bakura.

It was the one advantage he had over King Seto. He was hoping to use this advantage to its fullest extent.

Not once did he consider that there were other ways for Seto's powers to have an effect on him.

Via a curse upon another.

Via this curse upon Malik.

There really was only one word Bakura could think of to say in this situation, daunting as it was.

"...Shit."

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

**Next chapter: Bakura finds out about Malik's curse but he refuses to believe the truth. As for Malik, he'll find that now his curse has been activated, his life is indeed going to go under drastic changes. But is it for the better? Or for worse?**

**Adios!**

**Mel-Girl.**


End file.
